Summer Nostalgia & Death By Denim's Debut Album – Sleepless And Sunkissed
There is nothing that Perth band Death By Denim know better than oozy synth-driven tracks that get stuck in your head – over and over again. Their debut album Sleepless And Sunkissed is no different, offering listeners a glimpse into a summery haven with mixtures of light and dark.
Warrant had the opportunity to sit down with front man Nik and guitarist Pallé ahead of the album’s release. We discussed all things live music, experimentation and summer nostalgia.
Emily-Layne: You guys just came off a tour in WA and you're lucky enough to have a listening party for your new album this Friday, how does it feel to be back on the live stuff?
Pallé: It's amazing, like we were longing for it for so long since march because when covid hit we were just about to go on tour to the east coast and we were just waiting out for it very patiently. Then it didn't happen so, that's been in our mind for a very long time just getting back to doing what we love to do. The turn out for every show was amazing,, definitely a cut above the last time we went out to the down south regional WA.
Emily-Layne: Have fans been more receptive do you think?
Nik: I think so in a way. We had a tour in August and that sold out pretty quickly and the these ones, a lot of these shows sold out as well. The gigs have been, like crowd reactions to a lot of our songs have been really good. So I think people have been really hungry to just go out to any gig that they can because they know, who knows what can happen.
Emily-Layne: Take advantage of everything while you've got it I guess.
Nik: Yeah definitely.
Emily-Layne: Obviously your album, your debut album comes out on Friday – 'Sleepless and Sunkissed'. How are you guys feeling?
Pallé: Very excited. It's a pretty big party on Friday. I've got an itinerary for the boys. I'm going to wake up, I'm going to go for a run, get it out of my system. Then go and pick up some nice breakfast, go to Nick's house, chill by the pool, maybe listen to the album I don't know. Have some mimosa's. Hopefully we make it to our listening party.
Emily-Layne: (laughs) I feel like that's important.
Nik: We'll roll in pretty loose I think. But that's alright.
Emily-Layne: You just hope that everyone else does the same. Like if we're all in this together.
Pallé: A lot of people think we're actually playing a gig and we're trying to tell them that we're going to play the album and then dj.
Emily-Layne: So it's a full on party then.
Nik: Yeah that's pretty much what it is. We're going to stream the album from 8pm and then George who is our bass and keyboard player is going to DJ we're going to hang around him and pretend that we're doing something but we're not going to actually DJ.
Emily-Layne: You guys can be the back up dancers.
Nik: Exactly, we'll be the dinosaurs pretending to DJ.
Pallé: I like to touch the nobs on the DJ deck but not actually do anything.
Emily-Layne: Obviously your debut album has been a long time coming, were there any notable moment in the process that you think will stick with you when you think about the album?
Pallé: We've put in a lot of work over the year, every two or three months we did two or three songs and there wasn't originally going to be an album until Covid hit. It was going to be an EP and then we needed something to pass the time with, so it turned into a full 11 track album. What do you think is the most notable thing Nick, about that album process?
Nik: I think just keeping us sane during 2020 year that has bee. It's kept us focused so I guess looking back we actually did something, we achieved something during 2020 when most band or most industries, not even music, couldn't really do much. Just looking back on that will be really great I think.
Emily-Layne: Do you think that, because you were in lockdown, that informed some of the themes of the tracks or was it still drawing from a pre-covid time?
Nik: Mostly pre-covid. There were a few songs that have covid-like references but its not actually, none of it is about being isolated. Like the song caged, our recent single, you can sort of draw that to be about the isolation or whatever but the actual song isn't about, like we worked on it before covid hit.
Emily-Layne: It's almost as if you predicted it.
Pallé: Like Out Of Habit, we were talking about how when covid hit, everyone had to change up their greeting habits and that kind of thing, and then we linked it back to our bad habits and things we wanted to change about ourselves. So it was definitely a catalyst to creating a few themes but we weren't trying to feed into it.
Emily-Layne: You don't want to have to come back to the covid life too much, especially when you have to play the songs.
Nik: It's like TV shows nowadays when they’re like, all the TV shows I'm watching now, covid is in it. It's like ugh I just want to escape it for a bit.
Emily-Layne: And the album I guess acts as that bit of escapism, that you guys and everyone else who's listening can participate in.
Nik: Yeah that's the goal.
Pallé: I hope so.
Emily-Layne: Well talking about the album, it looks a lot of themes of fulfilment and coming of age. How important was it to you guys to discuss those topics?
Pallé: We didn't really set out to write the album about anything in particular because every song is kind of written over the course of a year so a lot of different things happening at the time over that year and the band was kind of, in a very exciting up take I guess. But there were still a lot of things going on in our personal lives which weren't quite as spectacular. So there are a lot of themes of all this great potential but all these tough emotions at the same time. So theres a lot of light and dark in the album, as cliché as that might sound.
Emily-Layne: I feel like when you've got all these different things happening, thats sort of what comes from it anyway.
Pallé: Yeah, so a lot of the songs are about feeling quite restless in the present but feeling like theres so much amazing potential around you.
Emily-Layne: Do you think that with the 11 tracks, they've sort of come together to communicate a message, or if there was a message behind the album, do you think those tracks come together to communicate it?
Pallé: I think it does a good job, like at many times we don't take ourselves very seriously and then at other times we do so you get this kind of contrast in the album where some songs are really playful then other ones, when you really sink your teeth into them, they're a bit more dark. So, thats quite reflective of us in the last year.
Nik: The start of the album is quite light and upbeat and then it takes a but of a darker turn and then becomes a bit more light. Its just a bit of a roller coaster I guess and as Palle said very cliché but light and dark, the Star Wars album that we like to call it... we've never once call it that.
Pallé: I don't mind that, that was good.
Emily-Layne: The new nickname for it. Well when it came to choosing the order of the songs, was it a deliberate decision to take it from light to dark to light or did that just happen?
Pallé: We kind of all made lists, like playlists of what we thought was the best thing and I just kept tinkering with the order and I put it on whenever I was doing something and just trying to make sure every songs flows and you don't get some really light-hearted song matched next to some really dark twisted one. What do you reckon Nick?
Nik: I think we just tried to put together songs that would match each other. I don't we set out to be like it has to start off light and then take a weird turn or anything like that. I think it was just what songs meshed together well. That's how I listen to it now, I'm sick of listening to it, but that's how it has kind of flowed together.
Emily-Layne: Obviously, the album features a few tracks that we already know and love like ‘Wiggy’, ‘Homemade’ etc. But what can listeners expect from the tracks that they haven't heard before?
Pallé: I think there's a lot more groove in the other tracks.
Nik: Yeah, there’s a few interesting tracks out there that we kind of put on our experimental hat and took a different turn, which is pretty cool I think.
Pallé: We were using a bit of auto tune for a few songs, which might be a bit controversial but, you know, you’ve got to play the game.
Emily-Layne: Did you think this album was a really good opportunity then to be a bit more experimental with things? Especially because it sort of took an unexpected turn; you thought it was going to be an EP and now it’s an album — did it give you that sort of opportunity?
Pallé: Yeah absolutely. I think because every time we go back into the studio, because there’s been big gaps and we’re working with the same producer - Andy Lawson - the whole time, we always want to find something new, every time we go back in. You know there’s always this moment where we’re all up on our feet, dancing around the studio, yelling at Andy basically just being like “Yes!”, and that’s when we discover a new sound or something like that. And I think every time we’ve gone in, there’s always been one song that’s just been very accessible that you know could be a single, like ‘Wiggy’ or something like that, matched with another song which just seems completely off the rock so we’re kind of feeding both sides of what we want to do. Bit of experimentation, but also trying to reign it in a bit, make sure it’s not too cooked.
Nik: Not too whack!
Emily-Layne: Are there any elements that you added that you hadn’t before that you thought, “Yep this is sick, it’s gotta go in there somewhere.”
Nik: I think the vocoder was probably. In a couple of songs we used it, listening to a bit of Travis Scott and what not but yeah. That was the main one that was different. Cause like we still are like an indie-rock band or whatever, but we like to use weird instruments and weird stuff, so listening to a lot of hip-hop and psychedelic music and trying to mesh it all in to one I think was what we tried to do with a lot of the songs and some people might not love it, but I think some people will love it and it will be a cool thing that we have in our album, and we love it so that’s the main thing I guess.
Emily-Layne: Yeah I think if you guys like it that’s what’s most important! The fans will just feed off the energy and vibe with it I’m sure.
Nik: Hopefully!
Emily-Layne: Now I want to talk about the artwork as well because it’s quite abstract, so I was thinking – what was the thought process behind that?
Pallé: Well George really wanted to work with this artist, was it Elvis Butler?
Nik: Yeah, Elvis.
Pallé: And he had just, I think he sent us a few designs at first which weren’t really what we had in mind. I don’t think we really had anything in mind at first, and then we got given like a few sketches and we were like “No, definitely not this”. And then he came back with that image of the volcano and this character going to the sky and we were just like “alright”.
Nik: Kind of seems like he’s trying to escape his problems, or the world’s problems.
Pallé: Kind of had this sci-fi feel to it, and it just seemed to match the vibe of the album - there’s a lot of synth and it just, yeah, I don’t know. It didn’t seem out of place when we saw it, so we ran with it.
Emily-Layne: Yeah and I guess it’s got those light and dark elements as well which you guys were talking about earlier, which I guess, there you go!
Nik: Yeah we did well with Elvis!
Emily-Layne: Yeah, go Elvis! One of my favourite questions to ask artists is, if you could have listeners take one thing away from the album, and obviously it’s such a complex album, there’s heaps to it. But if there was like one thing that listeners could take away, what would you guys want it to be?
Pallé: As in one song, or just anything?
Emily-Layne: Honestly anything, however you interpret the question - like a message, a feeling, anything!
Nik: It’s just very much an album for mid to early 20’s kind of people but 30’s, 40’s and 50 year olds can still listen to it as well! But just like, being in that summery sort of vibe - I don’t know what I’m even saying to be honest. Help me out!
Pallé: I think the title kind of says it all. It’s the feeling I get from it is when you’re kind of burnt out from an amazing summer, but you’re not sure if it was a great time in the end - because so many amazing things happened, you’re not sure if you want to go back, or if you want things to change. You can really romanticise a lot of things that went down, but at the same time you feel like something needs to change in your life and you feel like you need to find a bit more inner peace with it all, I guess?
Emily-Layne: I want to go back to sort of like the writing process, when it comes to sort of like writing the lyrics specifically, do you find it harder to draw from your own experiences cause it’s so personal? Or do you find it easier because it’s what you’ve experienced and you’ve been there already?
Pallé: I think we find it much easier when we have something we can just latch onto. We really like to work around a good title in our writing. A song like ‘Wiggy’ for example, like, ‘Wiggy' was just something we would always say in conversation, particularly after a large, festive night. I always feel if you can latch onto an idea of something and it sticks around in your head, then that’s something that a lot of people can relate to. And if you can put a story of your own to that sentiment, then it can really become something bigger. So again with ‘Sleepless and Sunkissed’ I think that title was an idea, and then it was trial and error with a lot of different riffs and melodies and that kind of thing and then the right song was written to kind of match it? So we just like to have something, like a hook that we can really sink our teeth into and build a story around it based on our own experiences.
Nik: I don’t think we’d be able to write a song that isn’t personal to us, we haven’t been able to - well we haven’t done that before. It’s always been something from our own experiences, or whatever, and we put in little, like weird lyrics that we might not have done or something like home-made, there were a few lyrics that were don’t actually do but it’s like, they’re all our personal experiences and I think that’s the easiest way.
Emily-Layne: Yeah, obviously you’ve been there, you know what you’re writing about so it comes easier to some people just to go from experience. And also, to wrap it up sort of, just like the last question - what track are you guys most excited for people to hear?
Pallé: It’s a bit of a mixture! Of the songs people haven’t heard, I really want to see the reaction to the title track! I feel like that’s got something special to it, it’s the final song on the album and it really just sums it up quite well I think. And then there’s another song, ‘Golden Morning’ which is just a very solid bop and I feel like that might be the crowd favourite at a gig next year if people get around it. And then there’s this whack song called ‘Moshi’s Medicine’ which is cooked and I just want to see how people respond to it you know. They’re either going to love it or absolutely hate it.
Nik: Definitely ‘Sleepless and Sunkissed’ as well, Pallé said that but for me, once it’s released, the chorus will really sit in people’s minds and I think that will be a big crowd favourite for the next year, such a sing-a-long kind of song too, looking forward to that one.
Emily-Layne: Sick! Yeah I need to hear all these tracks! And now the last question - what does the future hold for Death by Denim? Big one cause it’s sort of uncertain.
Nik: International fame! Success!
Pallé: I think, hopefully we can tour this album, nationally next year. And then, hopefully look to moving international, it’s kind of a very interesting climate at the moment — I feel like there will be a lot of little pop up opportunities and cool gigs that we might be able to do around the place if the borders stay open and that kind of thing, there’s a lot of festivals which are just popping up much quicker than they ordinarily would based on the information given, so we’re just keeping our eyes peeled waiting for the right moment. But in any case we’re definitely going to go back in the studio in December actually, working on new material for next year so we’re just gonna keep pumping it out, and hopefully be able to play as many shows as we can. We’ll probably give it a bit of time before we do another WA run, we’d love to do bit every weekend but you’ve gotta space these things out.
Emily-Layne: Well, exciting things to come then I guess!
Nik: Very much so! Well, hopefully!
Emily-Layne: Well praying that Western Australia lets you guys out! Even if it’s just you guys, you four, you can come down and play gigs. Everyone else can stay there it’s fine.
Nik: Yeah man just let us out.
Emily-Layne: Well, praying an East-Coast tour. It’s looking like it’s going to happen more and more now that obviously everything is opening up but hoping for that! So keen to listen to the album and good luck for Friday for your listening party! I hope you have fun dancing. Have a good one guys, thank you so much!
You can stream Sleepless and Sunkissed here.